A global discussion about the impact of shopping culture on brand strategy, led by the strategic community of The Integer Group which is one of the world's largest and most renowned retail, promotions and shopper marketing agencies.

What would a retailer need to do to convince you to pay to visit their store? Some consumers are lining up to hand over thousands of dollars in membership and entrance fees for premium brick-and-mortar experiences they feel are worth their time. Because shoppers can often get products more conveniently and faster online, they are seeking differentiated and exclusive offline experiences.

Stores are already charging admission fees. Depending on the brand, "retailtainment" is viewed as comparable to going to the movies, a night out, or a spa day. For example, the Winky Lux Experience pop-up charged a $10 fee to walk through seven rooms inspired by their cosmetic products, such as a “matcha Zen garden” to promote their Matcha lip balm.The entrance fee was credited toward purchases. If department stores expand from partnering with services such as coffee shops and fitness classes to these kinds of features, their business model may need to change to stay sustainable. While paid memberships have proven successful for retailers such as Amazon, Costco and Sam’s Club, luxury menswear retailer Wingtip in San Francisco is raising the bar by charging monthly membership dues of $125 to $200 and initiation fees of $2,000 to $3,000. Members and their guests can indulge in food, sip on drinks in the whisky corner or wine cave, and enjoy a skyline view from the rooftop.

Invite-only and themed events better connect with loyal customers. Few businesses have truly figured out how to establish loyal relationships. A global shopper survey found that 64% of people feel retailers “don’t truly know them.” Connecting with more focused target audiences outside of the typical retail environment and recognizing advocacy could help combat this notion. Brands such as Apple, Victoria's Secret PINK, and Sephora recognize customers or loyalty members by hosting exclusive in-store events. Lululemon tested a loyalty program that costs $128 a year and includes curated events, workout classes and free expedited shipping. Such offerings are likely to increase in the future: While just 9% of shoppers have taken advantage of invitations to exclusive events, 74% were somewhat or very interested in doing it again.

There are many reasons why Milan is sought-after by so many brands. For years it has not only been a modern business hub, but also a popular tourist and shopping destination. In 2015, Milan surpassed Rome, Venice, and Florence as the most-visited city in Italy. In addition, it is the only Italian town that is listed in the top 20 destination cities worldwide according to the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index 2018.

As a result, Milan is an increasingly attractive location for global brands to establish new flagship stores or test new store concepts. Here are a few examples.

—Appleopened a store designed by the famous architect Norman Foster that is second only to San Francisco's main store in floor area (3,500 square-meters). The store hosts events year-round through its Today at Apple program. Its mission is to inspire young creatives in Milan. It's a place to meet, learn, share ideas and discover what Milan might create in the future.

—NBA is opening its first European flagship store close to the Cathedral, which will be its third flagship store and similar in the concept to its store in New York City. The store will offer official uniforms, sneakers, collectibles, and exclusive NBA products.

From holiday promotions to in-store experiences, brands and retailers alike look for new ways to connect with shoppers during the holiday season.

Jimmy Dean and Taco Bell developed holiday promotions and created their own branded wrapping paper as a way to join in on the holiday fun.

Jimmy Dean created scented wrapping paper as part of their promotional ‘recipe gift exchange.’ The simple “cook a sausage recipe, get a sausage gift” call to action creates a compelling way for shoppers to engage with the brand during the holiday season. On Cyber Monday, Taco Bell launched a set of CrunchWrap-themed gift wrap to Canadian customers exclusively on Amazon as a limited holiday promotion. The promotion created a digital brand experience prime for reaching their loyal brand followers and Gen Z/Millennial fan base.

As the retail environment and shopping behavior continue to evolve, traditional brand trackers have become great enablers of mediocrity. Tracking brand commerce health helps companies better navigate the new retail reality of integrated commerce.

In our latest white paper, we review how to assess brand commerce health, better understand modern shoppers, select key performance indicators that work best for you brand and how to implement tracking technology. Click here to download The Next Generation of Retail Brand Trackers.

Coffee chain Costa Coffee has announced it will roll out a “chatty cafe” program in more than 300 branches across the U.K.. The program aims to facilitate more human interaction in a digitally saturated world by having designated tables where people can meet and talk to strangers.

The "chatty cafe" initiative puts Costa Coffee among a group of retailers who are tackling wider issues in society’s wellbeing in addition to their core offerings. And many are doing so in a smaller, more local fashion with initiatives that support the community and give brands a supportive place in people’s lives. For example, Lidl has recently opened up a pop-up bakery for young people to discuss mental health and Co-op has launched a program encouraging employees to talk more about any mental health related issues.

Will these local social efforts simply impact shoppers sentiment or will they affect sales as well?

The CityLife Shopping District — opened at the end of last year — is the largest commercial area in Italy and one of Europe’s most extensive. It was designed by the famous Zaha Hadid Architects Studio and provides shoppers with a innovative shopping experience and environment.

This summer, it is tapping into the power of kid request and family experiences to attract shoppers during the summer (back-to-school shopping) months, when Italians typically empty towns to go on holiday. From July through mid September, when schools will re-open, the shopping district will be offering kids and their families the possibility to discover and interact with endangered species through National Geographic Photo Ark. It is an exhibition by the National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore that allows shoppers to experience the lives of endangered species. The experience is robust and interactive, giving shoppers a reason to come shopping and have some summer fun while they do it.

The Photo Ark is an augmented reality system that allows families and kids (and also Integer employees on lunch break) the chance to interact with the animals through AR. The augmented reality show is called Air, Land & Sea and allows shoppers to meet many different wild animals. The AR experience is still quite new in Italy, and this opportunity is attracting many visitors—the first weekend alone has seen the participation of 48,000 people.

Nike has just opened its first “Live” store that merges a brick-and-mortar location with its online community. The store will strongly integrate its membership platform NikePlus and shoppers using nike.com, using location based data from users close-by to inform what products to stock, allowing users to reserve products for in-store or trial or pick-up. The app also allows direct communication with in-store staff to ask for tips, reservations or any other questions.

While localizing stores and embedding them within a community's codes and language is nothing new, Nike takes it a step further by fusing digital, local community data into its physical store. They also remove friction buying online and create a closer connection to the store, using a similar concept Harvey Nichols uses to connect online buyers to in-store staff in real-time.

Nike’s newest hybrid store opens a new chapter in the dynamics between eCommerce and brick & mortar stores. It connects online brand communities, which often existed more for brand building and data gathering purposes, to physical retail stores, strengthening the feeling of community and personalization along the whole shopper journey. The answer does not lie in either brick & mortar or e-commerce, rather it is a purposeful and frictionless combination of both.

Trailblazing an on-site social commerce model, the beauty company Glossier has broken the conventional rules of online shopping. Where traditionally most retailers and brands have focused their eCommerce ecosystem on breadth of choice, Glossier has brought a consumer-centric experience to life, offering breadth of connections.

A New Method to Lure the Customer

Taking the good of the in-store shopping experience, accounting for the bad, and adjusting to build the best place for customers to visit, learn, engage and shop in the world, Glossier has taken their brand out of the equation. Glossier's business model empowers customers to share their knowledge with other customers. Why? Because what a brand says about a product no longer matters. What matters is what the customers say.

Glossier’s original platform, intothegloss.com, provides a community for skincare seekers to connect with peers sharing similar needs within the world of beauty. Users can access interviews with ordinary people providing tips, tutorials and product reviews for a variety of brands across the category. Whether you want to know “How To Do Your Makeup In the Heat” or hear tips for healthier skin from an organic facialist, ITG serves as an authentic content haven.

More and more shoppers are embracing food as medicine, and consequently heading to local grocery stores to meet their health and wellness needs.

Food-as-medicine is not a groundbreaking idea; the concept can be documented as far back as the Ancient Greeks (the famous quote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” can be attributed to Hippocrates). But until recently food-as-medicine has been more of a “fringe” idea than mainstream. While the public’s faith in traditional medical institutions and treatments has crumbled and healthcare costs have continued to rise, shoppers have renewed their interest in the idea. As a result, the functional food and beverage space is exploding. And in the last year, health and wellness spending at grocery has started to rival mass and drug expenditures.

The food-as-medicine lifestyle encompasses more than increased organic and natural options. In response to growing shopper interest, grocery stores are adapting in innovative ways. They’re redesigning the grocery retail experience to accommodate wellness services and support, and playing an active role in shopper health management.

More shoppers will be getting out their wallets this back-to-school season; 67% of shoppers report that they will be doing some form of back-to-school shopping this year, up from 57% in 2015. And while most of this shopping will be done at mass retailers such as Walmart or Target, online retailers like Amazon are starting to gain a larger share of back-to-school dollars.

Back-to-school shopping will see some other changes this year--many of which are lead by younger shoppers and their desire for experiences and tech-savvy nature. We are seeing more shoppers prioritize things like fun back-to-school shopping experiences, and Online has received the highest satisfaction score of any channel.

To find out more about shopper behaviors during this back-to-school shopping season, download the most recent issue titled The Checkout: Back-to-School found here.

These are just a few of the phrases shoppers encounter when browsing the web as online retailers use data and technology to deliver a hyper-personalized shopping experience. Online retailers are also providing convenience through offerings like two-day shipping and one-click ordering. Shoppers are growing accustomed to this level of personalization and convenience.

As a result, brick-and-mortar retailers are working to meet shopper expectations by adding technology to their stores. For example:

Walmart is testing robotic shopping carts that scan shopping lists and lead shoppers to the corresponding items.

Lowe’s is using augmented reality to create an in-store navigation app.

These tech-driven in-store innovations show no sign of slowing down as shoppers grow more receptive to technology. They also provide retailers with an opportunity to collect shopper data and use it to enhance the in-store shopping experience. As technology continues to make its way in-store, how will the shopping journey change?

To read more about this and the examples noted above, download our white paper, 10 Years in Shopper Culture, here.

With big box stores, like Lowe’s and Home Depot, reaching and in some cases surpassing their sales numbers, it’s easy to see that home improvement projects are on the upswing and driving sales. But it’s no longer about selling the traditional upgrades— new kitchens, appliances and such—it’s also about new big ticket items. What those new items are and who is buying them nowadays might surprise you.

The highly coveted Millennial shopper is ripe for the taking as they shift into new life stages. Home ownership among this shopper base continues to rise. According to the National Association of Realtors report, 35% of Millennials currently own homes. In addition, 89% are buying existing properties ripe for renovation.

While millennials are known for redefining almost all they touch, it’s time to look at what appeals to this audience as homeowners: Quality, convenience and of course, technology.

What are some of the truly big ticket items on the radar this year? According to HBS Dealer’s April 2017 issue these are a few of the ones to watch:

With the announcement today of Starbucks opening 12,000 new cafes worldwide by 2021, they also announced the development of a new ordering system to be piloted in several cafes.

Dubbed My Starbucks Barista, this new ordering system will add artificial intelligence to the company’s mobile order and pay app. With the artificial intelligence feature on the app, customers will be able to place their orders via voice command or messages. The My Starbucks Barista feature will roll out first on iOS in limited beta in early 2017 and be made available to more iOS and Android users later in the year.

“We are today executing against an ambitious, carefully-curated, multi-year strategy to further elevate the entire Starbucks brand and customer experience around the world, and further extending Starbucks leadership around all things coffee, retail and mobile,” current Starbucks President and COO Kevin Johnson, who will take over as CEO for Howard Schultz in April 2017, said in a statement.

Shoppers want more and more every year. More transparency, more value and more connection to the brands they like.

This year, Starbucks opens its doors for connections and creativity from its consumers. Their iconic holiday cups are back and this year the company co-created the famous red cups with input from fans. Thirteen holiday themed cups are adorned with artwork from over 1,200 individual submissions, according to the company website.

The cafe I visited this morning had this dynamic three-dimensional display highlighting all thirteen designs. Definitely starts to get you in the spirit of the season!

The store of the future is just around the corner, and it has started to materialize today, thanks to now-ubiquitous technologies like the smartphones in our pockets and the online shopping tools we tend to take for granted, like ratings and reviews and product recommendations.

Shoppers have not only grown accustomed to these tools, they’ve gotten so used to them in their shopping experiences that it would be strange and disappointing not to have them.

So when a recent study suggested that some of the more futuristic elements of the store of the future were a bit too “creepy” for shoppers today, it’s good to remember that most consumers don’t really know how they’ll embrace a technological advancement until they get to experience it in their everyday lives.

Apple doesn’t use focus groups. If they did, they would never have built the iPhone without a physical keyboard or the MacBook without a DVD-ROM drive or the recently announced AirPod headphones without a wire. And shoppers of today are in no better position to tell retailers what technologies they’d find useful in stores of the future than Apple focus group participants would have been.